Recent Whitecliffe graduate Michelle So (Graphic Design) took out one of the six top awards at the distinguished 2014 Australasian Graduate of the Year Award (AGOTYA).

AGOTYA is a portfolio-based awards programme for final year design students and recent design graduates in both Australia and New Zealand. Courtney Harper won first prize in Fashion and Textile Design and Michelle So won first prize in Visual Communication. Other successful entrants submitted winning designs from Monash University (VIC), Queensland College of Art, University of Technology Sydney, Massey University, Queensland University of Technology, Design Centre Enmore (NSW) and AUT.

Revered Design Institute of Australia (DIA) members and design industry professionals at DesignEX in Sydney carefully judged all entries on May 28th. The award winners were selected from six design categories: Object Design, Interior Design, Interior Decoration and Design, Visual Communication, Fashion and Textile Design and Jewellery Design.

Visual Communication winner So entered three presentation boards for three separate projects for the first stage of the competition. For the second and final stages of the competition, she provided another statement defining her design strategy. So says “I wasn’t really nervous or excited, maybe because the possibility of winning wasn’t something that was on my mind when I was entering the award-I just did it and hoped for the best. For me it was one of those ‘why not’ situations.”

Whitecliffe Graphic Design Head of Department Sonya Lacey remarked “we're very proud that Michelle was named as top Visual Communication graduate this year. Her entry consisted of work completed in her third and fourth year studies. The prize was adjudicated by a panel of Australian design experts -- it's great to see that Whitecliffe student work stacks up so well against other graduates both in New Zealand and Australia.” Judges Louise Williamson and Peter Campbell were ”impressed by both the challenging nature of the brief and the rigour applied to develop creative solutions that were as intellectually stimulating as they were visually engaging.”

Whitecliffe would like to congratulate Michelle on her impressive achievement.